Pakistan cricket team skipper Babar Azam has already turned his focus to the Super 4 clash against India in the Asia Cup, suggesting that the Pakistan team will give their 100 percent in Round 2 of their highly-anticipated clash, which is to take place on Sunday in Colombo. Pakistan faced Bangladesh in their first Super 4 match and Babar’s men barely looked troubled by Shakib Al Hasan’s team. Pakistan kicked off the Super Four with a dominant 7-wicket victory against Bangladesh on Wednesday in the Gaddafi Stadium.
The ‘Men in Green’ will be eager to keep their unbeaten run alive against their arch-rival as the Asia Cup heads towards a two-day break. “This win will give us confidence, we are always ready for a big match. We will give our 100% in the next match,” Babar said in the post-match presentation.
While reflecting back on the match, Babar lauded the performance of his pace bowlers who bagged 9 wickets to put them in a pole position in the first innings.
“Too much heat, but full credit to the fast bowlers. First Shaheen and then Haris Rauf. We planned on picking Faheem because we saw the pitches here, there was grass on it and we like that also. Always when we play here, the crowd supports us and I hope all of them enjoyed this match,” Babar added.
Express pacer Haris Rauf, who was named the Player of the Match, gave insights into his plan for the day.
“It was hot out there, but I’ve played a lot of cricket here. I play PSL for Lahore, the crowd always expects us to perform here. Before any game, we do plan as a bowling unit. We talk about bowling to different plans based on the game phase. Hard length was tough to play here, and the plan was to keep bowling stump to stump. Didn’t need to go to the yorker today. I keep working hard and I have high goals for myself, I want to be the Player of the Series in this Asia Cup, let’s see how the tournament proceeds,” he said after the match.
Coming to the match, Imam-ul-Haq’s tangled knock and Mohammad Rizwan’s sturdy 63* were enough to kick off Pakistan’s Super 4 campaign began on a triumphant note.
Left-handed opener Imam-ul-Haq announced his arrival in the Asia Cup with his rollicking knock of 78 to keep Pakistan’s unbeaten run in the Asia Cup intact.
While chasing a low total of 194, Pakistan kept their nerves cool, looking to rotate strikes on every possibility, dealing in boundaries before the floodlights went off and halted the play at Lahore forcing the players to leave the field after the fifth over.
But Imam and Rizwan’s partnership of 85 runs turned out to be the game-changing point of the entire game.
India will face Pakistan on Sunday at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
With ANI inputs
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